Stuff it, if you can: Tofu Stuffed Bell Peppers

She was wandering the aisles of the grocery store, loosing all track of time. So many pretty little treats were loaded up her cart and she barely managed to peek through the top of her pile. She walked through the produce shelves picking up this and that; then did a screeching double take as she passed these adorable baby peppers in bright pastel red, yellow and orange. "Come home little beauties in to my kitchen. I'll stuff you up with flavors and have you smitten", she said to them. She hurried home passing all the slow-coaches on the highway, donned her apron and gathered her ingredients.

She crumbled some firm tofu into bits and set them to brown. In another pan she dropped sliced onions, chick pea flour and crushed roasted peanuts with spices and seasonings. In a few minutes, the tofu was thrown into this with some

tomato paste to bring the stuffing together. Then she happily stuffed each of her tiny peppers with this mixture setting them on a cookie sheet (trimming off the bottom of each pepper so it stands on its own). When the oven was preheated to 400 she popped them in and skipped off to stir other mischief in the house. Some of the stuffing mixture remained in the pan, so she poured some stock in to it and let it come to a boil. She made a slurry of chickpea flour with water and

thickened her quick pan sauce in no time at all.

When the timer (15 minutes) reminded her of her peppers in the oven, she took her mind off the sauce. She poked the peppers to check for doneness and pulled them out of the steam room

(oven) dropped them into the hot tub (sauce). She rang the bell for dinner and the family(husband) came bounding to the table. She served the little stuffed babies (peppers) with some hot fresh naan.

Tofu Stuffed Bell Peppers

2 tsp vegetable oil ½ block extra firm tofu crumbled	Heat oil in a heavy pan and add the tofu. Allow it to brown about 7 mins. Check on it once or twice
2 tsp veg oil 1 onion sliced ½ cup crushed roasted peanuts 2 tbsp chickpea flour 2 tbsp tomato paste	Heat oil in another pan, and fry the onions till soft. Add the chick pea flour and peanuts and cook till the raw smell of the flour is lost. Add the tomato paste and a splash of water to combine
1 tsp dry mango powder 1 tsp red chili powder ½ tsp sugar 1 tbsp cumin and coriander powder Salt to taste	Add the spices and seasonings, stir to combine. Mix in the browned tofu into this pot.
6 small peppers in assorted colors	Trim the bottoms of the peppers, cut of the top and remove the seeds. Stuff the peppers with prepared mixture till filled to the top. Bake for 15 minutes in a 400 deg F oven
Remaining stuffing ½ cup vegetable stock (or water) Salt to taste 1 tsp chick pea flour dissolved in ¼ cup water	Add the stock to the remaining stuffing in the same pan and bring to boil. Add salt or adjust seasonings to taste. Add the chick pea flour slurry to thicken sauce. Get the peppers out of the oven, add to the saucepan let it soak in the sauce before plating.

Southwest Scrambled Tofu

I aspire to be a morning person. Every morning, I attempt to wake up around 6 am, very groggily fix myself a cup of Joe that I drink while catching up on the morning news and weather outlook. With that relatively calm beginining, the hum-drum of the day commences. I will admit I do not do justice to breakfast - the supposed most important meal of the day! However, I am usually big on balanced meals. If breakfast consisted of junk, I try to ensure lunch or dinner fare better!

Being the unabashed tofu fan that I am, most weekend brunches involve tofu put together with the contents of the fridge - different veggies: peppers, spinach, accompaniments: ketchup, soy cheese and warm toasted bread. Here is a Tex-mex variation of tofu scramble with chipotle chillis. These are smoked jalapeno peppers that come in a jar all soaked in Mexican Adobo sauce. The Adobo seasonings include garlic, tomato paste and onion. So, thats all you need for the flavorings. When I run out of the usual green chilis I used for daily fare, I substitute these chipotle chilis.

Here is how I went about making the Southwest Scrambled Tofu. Use firm or extra firm tofu, cut off desired amount from the block, slice thin and squeeze out excess liquid from the tofu crumbling it in the process.

Southwest Tofu Scramble
1 tsp peanut oil 1 cup crumbled tofu (liquid squeezed out) 2 chipotle chilis (or less for a milder flavor), chopped 1 tsp of adobo sauce from chipotle chili jar .25 tsp turmerica pinch of salt (or more to taste)	Heat the oil in a pan (omlette pan works well). Add the tofu, chili, turmeric and the sauce. Add salt if necessary - the Adobo sauce is seasoned. Cook for 2-3 minutes till tofu is dry and resembles scrambled eggs
2 tbsp cooked black beans	Add the black beans to the tofu, heat through. Serve with heartly whole wheat bread

Add a glass of freshly squeezed orange-grapefruit juice, and you have given your metabolism an early morning boost!

On most weekdays I do the cereal routine. If you are like me and flee at the mention of milk, try adding cereal or granola to some greek styled yogurt. Greek yogurt is strained thick yogurt that comes low fat and is readily available in most regular well stocked supermarkets! I like Kashi's Go Lean Crunch cereal. It is delicious and each 1 cup serving has 9 gms of protein, 8g fiber and Omega 3 fatty acids.

This balanced breakfast is my entry to this month's Weekend Breakfast Blogging (WBB), concieved by Nandita of Saffron Trail, hosted this month by Mansi. Thanks for choosing the theme of 'balanced breakfast meals'!

All in one solitary meal: Tofu Spinach Roti

I can tell that it has been too long since my last visit to the grocery store because I am all out of junk food. Yes, been a slacker lately - no excuses. Plenty of theories for my lack of motivation to cook (besides the hackneyed too busy at work) -we'll go over them another day.

But, today I was possessed with the will to cook something good. I was surveying the pantry when it came to me - the mother of all one dish meals - the paratha (Indian flat bread). I gathered all elements of the USDA food pyramid - whole wheat flour, tofu, frozen spinach, vegetable stock cube, water and oil. And got to work. Also, in my life when it rains, it pours. So in true overachiever behaviorial pattern, I also launched another unit of processing - laundry. I kneaded the dough for the parathas and put the clothes in the washer as the dough rested. The whole cooking, cleaning and eating process was done before the end of the dryer cycle. Of course, I was eating as I was cooking. Here goes the recipe for the parathas/rotis

Tofu Spinach Roti/Paratha
0.5 cups frozen spinach 1/2 a vegetable stock cube	Place spinach and half a stock cube in a microwave safe bowl (big enough to knead the dough in) and nuke for 1 min to defrost the spinach
1.5 cups whole wheat flour 2-3 tbsp crumbled tofu (no need to drain) 1 tsp chili pow Not more than 1/2 cup water	Add the flour, tofu and chili pow (and salt if needed, the stock cube will have seasonings). Use your hands to incorporate all the ingredients. Add water little by little and knead into a smooth dough. Keep aside for a few minutes if you can spare.
	Divide dough into 10 parts, Roll into balls and flatten to form discs. Using a rolling pin, roll out into discs of about 6in diameter. Shape has no effect on the taste and nutrition. Heat a griddle/shallow frying pan till hot. Slap on a rolled out disc, flip after cooking ~30 sec on each side. Now drizzle some oil if desired and toast both sides applying slight pressure till brown spots appear on both sides.

Eat by itself or with plain yogurt. A proper meal, two loads of laundry and a blog post all in one week night - tonight is going to be hard to beat. If only I can now muster up motivation to put away that laundry!

Peanut Coconut Curry Sauce - So easy even the Geico Caveman can do it

I love PF Changs - the Chinese Bistro. But have you tried getting a table at the restaurant lately? Reservation or not - you need advance notice to plan for a fun evening at PF Changs - the place is notoriously full by 6:30 pm on most week nights! I haven't been there as many times as I would like because most of our plans tend to be spontaneous and regrettably last minute - so I am left salivating on thoughts of Tofu lettuce wraps, Coconut curry vegetables and some fresh brewed tea!


I came across a recipe for a Simple Coconut based peanut sauce (vegetarian-ized version of Sandra Lee's recipe) - once all the ingredients are at hand, it took less than 10 mins to put together. Reminded me of PF Chang's Coconut Curry sauce - one of my favorites. My kind of a meal - definitely one that would please many others. And I hereby confer on this recipe the Geico Caveman approval seal. Here is the recipe that will comfortably serve 2 as the main meal with rice

Vegetables in Peanut Coconut Curry Sauce
1/2 block of tofu cut into cubes (of desired size) 1 tbsp oil a splash of soy sauce	Heat oil in a pan. When oil is HOT, add the cubes of tofu and pan fry till a nice brown crust is formed. Add a splash of soy sauce and allow the tofu to absorb the liquid.
2 cups of chopped vegetables of your choice (green beans, peppers, broccoli, snap peas etc) salt to taste	Add veggies and salt to the pan, cook till vegetables are tender crisp. Around 3-5 minutes
1 12 oz can light coconut milk 1/2 cup vegetable broth 1/3 cup crunchy peanut butter 2 tbsp brown sugar 1 tbsp red chili paste 1 tsp tamarind extract (or a few bits of tamarind soaked in the stock)	Whisk together ingredients on the left into a smooth sauce. Add to the pan of simmering veggies. Taste for salt since the broth/peanut butter are seasoned. Simmer and let sauce thicken for about 6-8 minutes. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves. Serve with steamed brown or white rice

ARF/5-a-day-Tuesday #6: Marinated Tofu Stir Fry Noodles

Using a variety of veggies and antioxidant rich food is a challenge for me on week nights. But cooking and blogging about them later is a great incentive to eat right for me. So I jumped at Sweetnick's ARF/5-a-day Tuesday event. Albeit 6 weeks late, I hereby join the bandwagon. This week the event is hosted by Stephanie aka The Happy Sorceress. Thanks for hosting ladies!

I never say no to any form of one-dish meal, this week I dabbled with whole wheat noodles. I tried to include soy protiein (tofu) and antioxidant rich, bright colored peppers and carrots. The end product looked and tasted satisfying.

Marinated Tofu and Vegetable Noodles
1 package extra firm silken tofu 4 tbps soya sauce 1 tsp ginger garlic paste	Cut tofu into one inch cubes, place in a shallow baking dish. Add water to cover and stir in soya sauce until amber in color. Add ginger garlic paste. Let tofu marinate for 20 mins. Drain.
2 tbsp oil (preferably dark sesame) 2 garlic cloves minced 1 red onion, cut into thin slices 1 carror julienned 3 green chillies minced or chopped fine	Heat oil in a wide skillet, add the garlic, green chillies, onion and carrot and saute on high heat for 5 minutes.
2 cups green, red and orange bell peppers, cut into strips 1/2 cup button mushrooms, thinly sliced	Add to the stir fry and cook till peppers are slightly crisp.
1 10oz package of dried whole wheat noodles	Cook noodles in plenty of salt water, according to package direction. Drain well. Add immediately to stir fry to prevent clumping. Cook till noodles are heated through. Top with additional soya sauce or hot sauce (sambal)